Milan
Good Morning, we are seriously considering this tour in October but from Amsterdam to Milan. We are adding days in Amsterdam for various activities but cannot decide about adding days in Milan. Tauck has a free afternoon in the schedule which would give us some time to explore and of course they are doing the Last Supper and the basic tour of the city. Does anyone have other suggestions? We are history fans and I get overwhelmed in big cities. Thanks for any suggestions!
Birder
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We did this tour in 2019 in the reverse; Milan to Amsterdam. On our extra day in Milan we took a tour of the cathedral including going to the roof. It was greatl I don’t believe Tauck goes inside the cathedral and they certainly don’t go to the roof.
This is exactly the same thing I was going to suggest. We began in Milan too. We also took the Opera house visit/museum and in addition there was a special Leonardo exhibition near the Galleria. You must book the Cathedral visit in advance on line. When you go to collect the tickets, the ticket office is not in an obvious place. It is across the street and you collect your tickets and then congregate in the area for the type of ticket you have purchased and wait for your guide. We loved the roof tour. In addition to eating off the beaten track a a local restaurant with locals, we also ate at the hotel which was high end but fantastic. You must try the Milanese risotto in the tourist area in the Galleria and do people watching.
Birder49: We are booked on the Oct. 26, Rhine Enchantment, Amsterdam to Milan trip. We haven't started looking at things to do in Milan yet as we have our Best of Ireland, Small Groups in August and are concentrating on that upcoming trip.
I will be keeping notes to the responses you get from this query. If you decide on the Oct 26 trip, we will look forward to meeting you.
We spent an extra day in Milan prior to the start of our Bellisima tour. We were surprised how much we loved this city! We did the Cathedral tour (including the roof top) and La Scala on our own before our Tauck tour began. BTW it just happened to be Fashion Week in Milan when we were there! Lots of interesting people and trends!
For those who might be interested, the Milan Synagogue is a short walk from the Duomo. I do not know if it has reopened for the general public for guided tours. The stained glass windows (new since the 1990s and designed by a New York artist) are quite stunning.
As long as we are talking about stained glass windows (how’s that for a smooth transition?) don’t forget to see the Chagal windows in the church in Zurich if you take that excursion on the Milan-Amsterdam Rhine trip.
Ah yes, we enjoyed Zurich!
I will follow BSP51's digression. Chagall's windows are literally around the world. I have only seen them in Reims, France and at the United Nations in NYC. I hope to see his exhibit this fall at the Art Institute of Chicago at the end of our Tauck tour of the Great Lakes.
Sorry, Birder49. Hopefully others will offer input on more things to experience in Milan. Enjoy your tour.
Thanks to you all for your responses. You all have gotten me excited about Milan. We booked the tour today for the October 19 trip. Im sorry we will miss you SueMS.
A few interesting tidbits -- We wanted to add three days in Amsterdam and 2 in Milan. For the 3 extra days in Amsterdam we had to book our own rooms at the Tauck pre-stay hotel because all the Tauck rooms were taken. In Milan, we wanted to add two extra nights but there was only one night avaliable so we had to book the 2nd night on our own. I dont know if that means Tauck is really busy or they only block out a certain number of rooms and nights. We have never had that happen before.
As far as getting through to Tauck reservations,. yesterday afternoon I called guest relations and they answered right away. I then called reservations and waited over 2 hours before giving up. (I had the phone on speaker and worked on other things) They did not offer the call back feature. Today I called twice and both times the call back feature was offered and they called back in a reasonable time. They told me that they do not offer the call back feature if they know they already have many calls to return before 9pm. That might be why some people are not getting that option.
As usual, as you all know, they were helpful and patient with all our questions and concerns. It is nice doing business with them!
We loved Milan. In addition to walking the roof of the Duomo - a must - go across the square to visit the Duomo's museum. If big cities are overwhelming, Birder49, then two relaxing places in Milan are the Sforza Castle and - I kid you not - the cemetery. It may sound macabre but we spent several hours wandering through this beautiful, acclaimed cemetery. There is another museum that hosts the biennale which we really liked but I can't remember the name.
For those who have extra days we took a train to Parma, which we enjoyed. Nearby Bergamo is fantastic. We didn't have time to go to Cremona, home to violin makers, but it is just a train ride away..